Editorial Staff

COVID-19 Roundup from Pioneer: How long does COVID-19 survive?; Remdesivir to the rescue; HubWonk: Attorneys & clients at risk? & more!

/0 Comments/in , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Pioneer staff share their top picks for COVID-19 stories highlighting useful resources, best practices, and questions we should be asking our public and private sector leaders. We hope you are staying safe, and we welcome your thoughts; you can always reach out to us via email:  pioneer@pioneerinstitute.org.

Our Top Picks for COVID-19 Pandemic News:

William Smith, Visiting Fellow in Life Sciences: NEJM published a study on how the virus survives on different surfaces. It lasts longest on plastics and stainless steel. It also can survive in the air for hours.

Also from Bill:

  • Data about Gilead’s trial of Remdesivir (leaked to STAT news, not from Gilead’s summary of the clinical trial data) indicated that 111 of 113 severely ill patients rapidly recovered.
  • Here is an update on FDA efforts surrounding serological testing, a potentially important tool that may allow many people to return to work as they may have immunity to the virus.
  • India is taking steps to stem panic buying of these two drugs.

Mary Z. Connaughton, Director of Government Transparency: Mike Festa, State Director of AARP Massachusetts, wants COVID-19 transparency for long-term care facilities in a way that protects the confidentiality of the state’s 57,500 residents. With 44% of COVID deaths occurring in skilled-nursing, assisted-living and rest homes facilities, his proposal makes good sense.  Hats off to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for this informative dashboard that also includes COVID-19 information by long-term care facilities as of yesterday!

  • Read more about COVID-19 in Massachusetts nursing homes here.

Our Picks for Public & Private Sector Best Practices:
Joe Selvaggi, Host, Hubwonk: This week on Pioneer’s new podcast, HubWonk, I’m joined by Pioneer’s Director of Government Transparency, Mary Z. Connaughton, and Kosta Ligris, attorney and entrpreneur, for a discussion about ways to protect Massachusetts attorneys and clients from risk of COVID exposure.

Jamie Gass, Director of PioneerEducation: Christensen Institute co-founder Michael Horn joined co-hosts Dr. Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson for Friday’s episode of “The Learning Curve” podcast to talk about the technological advancements that are allowing some school districts to implement remote learning in response to COVID-19.  Since Governor Baker just announced that schools will remain closed for the academic year, this is a must-listen! Also from Jamie: David Randall of the National Association of Scholars wrote a thoughtful article about actions higher education institutions can take to weather this crisis.

Barbara Anthony, Senior Fellow in Healthcare: Kudos to the Baker Administration for increasing transparency now and publishing COVID-19 cases by city and town on a weekly basis, a change for which Pioneer advocated. Previously only county wide data was released. View Pioneer’s mapping of cases here.

Questions for Our Public & Private Sector Leaders:

How will our state and local leaders plan for re-opening businesses post-COVID? Rebekah Paxton, Research Analyst & Greg Sullivan, Research Director wrote a report released yesterday showing the impact of COVID-19 unemployment on Massachusetts cities and towns by industry. Read coverage in CommonWealth magazine and Patch.

What will happen to sports stadiums and convention centers? Greg Sullivan shared his thoughts in this Boston Business Journal story.

Shawni Littlehale, Director of the Better Government Competition: How will COVID-19 impact rental housing?

Do YOU have interesting questions and/or articles to share with us? Please email us, or message us through our social media channels below!

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Content

Easthampton High Scores A National Educational Victory During The COVID-19 Pandemic

0 Comments
/
This spring, Massachusetts’ Easthampton High School was crowned national champion in the “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” contest. The competition brings together about 1,200 students from across the country to answer civics questions based on America’s Founding Documents including the U.S. Constitution; The Federalist Papers; and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Experts Find K-12 Online Education Can Be Appropriate for Most Special Needs Students

School closures due to COVID-19 have separated more than seven million K-12 special needs students from support they receive in the classroom, but online learning can be appropriate for most of those students if teachers and parents work as a team to provide each one with what he or she needs, according to a new report published by Pioneer Institute and ASU Prep Digital.

Pioneer Institute Looks Ahead to the Protection of Civil Liberties

Challenges to Americans’ civil liberties have increased in recent years.  History teaches us that during national emergencies governments are even more likely to overstep and violate constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. To address this concern, Pioneer Institute has created “Respect My Rights,” a web-based hotline to which citizens can submit complaints and descriptions of violations they have experienced.

COVID-19 Roundup from Pioneer: Antibodies & immunity; Talking about WHO; Telecommuting Survey Results; Mapping COVID – Update; & more!

0 Comments
/
Pioneer staff share their top picks for COVID-19 stories highlighting useful resources, best practices, and questions we should be asking our public and private sector leaders.

Even for the most remote part of Massachusetts (Franklin County), it’s far from business as usual

0 Comments
/
The Connecticut River valley is home to some of the most productive…

Hubwonk Ep. 8: Who is WHO? COVID-19, Massachusetts, and the unhealthy World Health Organization

0 Comments
/
Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi and Pioneer Healthcare Senior Fellow Josh Archambault are joined by Hoover Institution’s Dr. Lanhee Chen to discuss the role that the World Health Organization (WHO) plays, what dysfunction may have contributed to the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what steps can be taken to bring back transparency and trust.

Study: Safely Reopening Office Buildings Will Require Planning, Innovation

0 Comments
/
Safely bringing employees back into workplaces presents a significant challenge for employers located in office buildings, particularly when it comes to elevator operations and building entry and exit.  To address the challenge, managers must develop plans to control the flow of workers, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Acclaimed Poet & Former NEA Chairman Dana Gioia on Poetry & Arts Education

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Dana Gioia, a poet, writer, and the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, to talk about why the arts are so pivotal to the intellectual and civic development of America’s K-12 schoolchildren.

38.8 percent of the Massachusetts workforce and 28.3 percent of the U.S. workforce have filed unemployment claims over the past ten weeks.

0 Comments
/
Data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor shows that 38.8 percent of the Massachusetts workforce and 28.3 percent of the U.S. workforce have filed unemployment claims since the COVID-19 unemployment surge began ten weeks ago.

Once anchored by higher education, Hampshire County, MA finds itself out of work after a cancelled semester

0 Comments
/
The 38,000 college and university students at the Five College…

In Hampden County, COVID-19 exacerbates a stark employment divide between urban and rural areas

0 Comments
/
Hampden County, Massachusetts, home of Western New England’s…

Study: Officials Must Address Basic Questions to Improve Public School Computer Science Education

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has further transitioned education towards electronic devices, computer science education in K-12 public schools around the country faces a number of daunting challenges, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Hubwonk Ep. 7: Covid Testing: What went wrong, where we are & when we’ll get closer to normalcy

0 Comments
/
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/G45992/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/828394294-pioneerinstitute-hubwonk-ep-7-covid-testing-what-went-wrong-where-we-are-when-well-get-closer-to-normalcy.mp3 Join…

As stay-at-home orders remain in place at the start of summer tourist season, COVID-19 takes a bite out of resort towns’ economies

0 Comments
/
Last month, Pioneer Institute showed that the hospitality and…

Survey Suggests Demand for Telecommuting After COVID-19 Crisis

Citing an avoidance of the commute and more flexible scheduling, nearly 63 percent of respondents to Pioneer Institute’s survey, “Will You Commute To Work When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over?” expressed a preference to work from home one day a week, and a plurality preferred two to three days a week, even after a COVID-19 vaccine is available. Respondents cite social isolation as the biggest drawback of remote work. The survey was conducted from April 22nd to May 15th, and received responses from over 700 individuals.

It’s Time for the MBTA to Actively Engage Riders to Understand Their Commuting Plans

0 Comments
/
The MBTA should conduct a survey of mTicket app users regarding their future plans. Some may never work in offices again. Some will certainly do some workdays in the office and some at home. Others will be in offices and back to business as usual at some point. Using their responses, the T can calculate ridership and determine projected revenue.

Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate of a 15.1 percent unemployment rate in April only reflects half of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 unemployment surge

0 Comments
/
Today's release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of a 15.1%…

Homeschooling Expert Kerry McDonald on Harvard Law Professor Controversy & COVID

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are happy to be joined by Kerry McDonald, a homeschooling expert and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, on the major lessons we all should be learning from this educational moment, now that COVID has turned most of America’s 50 million schoolchildren and their families into "homeschoolers."